The Brave African Huntress

by Amos Tutuola

  The head of the king of Ibembe sprouts two horns!

  The two horns are thick and short!”

  This bugle spoke out like that with a very lovely tone and when this man heard this he was so happy or admired it that he ran with the bugle to the town. He went to the most senior chief who was next to the king. And when he blew this wonderful bugle before this chief he was so admired what it said that he took it from this man. He kept it for the day that the king would celebrate this birthday when they would blow it for the king and it would be the most important bugle which would be used on this day. This chief thought that the king would admire what it was saying as well because he (chief) did not know that the king had two horns on head which he did not want anybody to see.

  By and by, the day that the king would celebrate his birthday was reached. After the whole people of the town and the chiefs had gathered at the front of the palace and when the king sat in the circle of the crowd. Then the bugle-blower started to blow this wonderful bugle repeatedly. But when the king heard what this bugle was saying—“The head of the king of Ibembe sprouts two horns! The two horns are thick and short!” he shrank up with great sorrow at the same moment. He looked at me with wild eyes. For he thought that I was the one who told the bugler that he had horns on head. Immediately this bugler started to blow this bugle and I heard what it was saying I winked my eyes to him to stop to blow it but he did not stop to blow it and then I waved hand to him to stop it but still he did not stop it.

  As the bugler was still blowing this bugle, one of the chiefs who was wiser than the rest stood up, he went to the king and he took off the crown which was on the head of the king suddenly, just to make sure whether what the bugle was saying was true. But the whole people were greatly wondered and feared when they saw that their king had horns on head. And on the same spot some of the people said that they would exile the king and some said that it was better to cut the horns away instead to exile him but those who were the supporters of the king insisted that the king would not be exiled and the horns on his head would not be cut off. As they were still arguing within themselves those who were not the supporters of the king started to beat those who were supporters of the king. Within a few minutes there was a big and fearful riot in the town and the supporters of the king were chasing me about to kill when the king explained to them that I was the one who leaked out the secret of the two horns because I was his private hairdresser who had seen his head.

  This riot was so fierce that the whole people had to leave this town for another town. But as everybody was leaving and the supporters of the king was still chasing me about to kill. Then I went back to the palace through the crooked way, I took my “shakabullah” gun, hunting bag, cutlass and the two poisonous cudgels and then I ran out from the palace. But as I was leaving the town as hastily as I could the supporters of the king saw me again. As they were chasing me along to kill and when I believed that they would overtake me very soon then I started to shoot them with my gun. But when several of them were wounded then they went back from me. It was like that I left this town and continued my journey unexpectedly to the Jungle of the Pigmies.

  Please, Lay Your Head on this Rock and Let me cut it off at Once!

  The fortune teller will die, the doctor will go to heaven and death will kill the sorcerer.

  Adebisi cannot fight but she has sister (gun) who is fierce enough to help her.

  After I had left Ibembe town and travelled about five miles, I stopped and sat down under a tree which had a very cool shadow. Luckily it was not so long from when I was thinking what to eat when I saw a big bird and I shot it down with my “shakabullah” gun. When I picked it up I saw that it was a bush pigeon. Then at the same time I made a fire under that tree and I roasted it with the fire and I ate the whole of it at a time because I was very hungry before I travelled to that place and I enjoyed it very nicely as it was fatty.

  After I ate this bird I looked round there, I saw a pond, I went to it and I drank from the water which was in it to my satisfaction before I came back. Then I loaded my gun with gun-powder and gun-shots. But as I felt to rest for a few minutes therefore I leaned my back on the buttress of that tree and I did not know the time when I felt asleep when the cool air rushed to me. I enjoyed the sleep for about two hours before I woke up. At the same time I put my gun and hunting bag on my shoulder, I held the poisonous cudgels and my cutlass with the left hand and then I continued to travel along on this road. A few minutes after I travelled to the end of this road.

  But when I travelled to the end of this road and still I never reached the jungle at all, even I never smelt it at all and again I did not know on which part of the bush that I would travel to the jungle. So I stopped near a rock when I remembered that my father had explained to me that there was no any hunter who could see the real road on which to travel to the jungle without other means. Therefore, I took out one wonderful juju from my hunting bag. This juju was the very one which my father had been using whenever he was going to this Jungle of the Pigmies. Whenever he travelled to where there was no road or whenever the road was ended suddenly, if he stretched up this juju, any direction that the breeze or air blew it to, was the right direction he should take. This juju was just like the tail of a big cow, it was very bushy and it was a very sure “juju-compass” which had never deceived my father once throughout the time that he hunted.

  And when I stretched this inherited “juju-compass” up the breeze blew it to my left and then I started to travel to that direction at once. I travelled till the nightfall. But when the darkness did not allow me to see again, then I stopped, I climbed a big tree and I slept on its branches till the daybreak. But when I came down in the morning, I did not travel so far when I was seeing the Jungle of the Pigmies far away from me.

  When I travelled as quickly as I could it was not more than twelve o’clock p.m. when I was seeing it clearly. Then I stopped I redressed all my dressings, I took my gun away from the shoulder, I held it tightly and then I continued to go along. Not knowing that I could not enter this jungle as easily as I had been thinking in my mind but before I would be able to enter it I would fight with all my power even perhaps I would die while I was still struggling to enter it.

  Having travelled for about thirty minutes I saw the gate-keeper who stood firmly on the wide road on which I was travelling along. Immediately he saw me his eyes became very wild and he asked me without hesitation—“Who are you? Where are you going?” But with trembling voice I replied—“I am a huntress and I am going to hunt in the Jungle of the Pigmies.” When he heard like that from me he repeated the name of the jungle—“In the Jungle of the Pigmies?” When he asked like that I could not reply with mouth but I could only reply with my head. After that he said quietly—“All right, come and lay your head on this rock and let me cut it off. I do not need yourself or the rest part of your body but your head.”

  Willing or not I was first going to him as he commanded me. But after a few seconds his fear stopped me at a little distance from him, because I was unable to lift up my feet and be going to him again. When I stopped and looked at him very well he was indeed “the heavy rain which stopped the voice of bird”. Because I could not open my mouth and speak out any word for about ten minutes but I was simply looking at him and his surroundings with the fear that which I could not describe here yet.

  When I looked at him very well I saw that he wore the skin or leather of buffalo which did not reach his knees and he did not cover the rest part of his body with anything. His body was full of big buoys, each of the buoys was as big as a fist. His legs were very thick and the arms were thick at about two feet diametre and all his body was full of thick veins which were stretched out very tightly as if they were going to cut soon. His eyes were so fearful that I could not look at them very well, he had no hairs on head at all but his beard was so plenty that it covered his neck and chest. His face did not show that he was laughing at all but it showed that he was cruel and harmful to
every hunter or huntress or anybody who went there. He was so fat that he could not look here and there as fast as he wanted it to be. He was so short that he did not reach my waist and this showed me that he was a pigmy. His heavy head was helping him indeed whenever he wanted to kill a powerful creature because once he hit that creature with it, it would die at once.

  And again when I glanced at the surroundings on which he stood, I saw that there were uncountable of bones of hunters and wild animals, and several heavy cudgels were lying all over the ground and plenty of heavy stones which were throwing to his victims, were also lying all over that spot. He always held one heavy cudgel which had a very big round head. And as he was talking to me it was so he was looking at the big round head of this cudgel and after a few minutes he would glance at my own head, and this showed me that he was thinking in mind that he was going to beat my head with this cudgel.

  When I noticed that whenever he looked at the head of his cudgel he would look at my head as well and again when I saw all the fearful things which were surrounded him, my bravery flew away from my body and then great fear replaced it at once. Then I began to tremble from feet to head with fear. But when I was about to throw away my gun, hunting bag, etc., and then to start to run away for my life, it came to my mind suddenly this moment that all my four brothers were still held up in the custody of the pigmies and that it was in respect of them I was going to hunt in the Jungle of the Pigmies perhaps I would see them and bring them back to the town. When it came to my mind like that, my bravery returned to my body at the same time. And then I thought over again that—“Although I have jumped this well and I have jumped that well makes cat to fall into a well one day.” This meant as this gate-keeper had killed several hunters, etc., but I as a huntress who had no power like those hunters, would by a surprise, kill him because it is a useless dog always kills hare.

  When all these thoughts came to my mind suddenly then I started to shout greatly on him—“Please, the gate-keeper, open the gate for me and I want to pass into the jungle!” But when he asked—“To pass to where?” I told him very loudly—“To pass to the Jungle of the Pigmies!” But instead to open this gate and let me pass in he simply bursted into a great laughter and he said—“I believe you don’t know where you are yet! To open this gate for you or what do you say now? Look at all these bones and skulls! They are the bones and skulls of all the hunters who had wanted to go to the jungle when I killed them! Come to me and let me cut off your head at once, you hopeless huntress!”

  But when this gate-keeper shouted on me greatly like that I was so annoyed that I did not know when I shot my “shakabullah” gun at his head because I thought that as his head had no hair at all the gun-shots would be easily entered his brain and so by that he would fall down and die at once. But to my surprise and fear the gun-shots were unable to enter into his brain at all and instead of that they fell down before him. He picked them up and threw them back to me without hesitation. Again he told me to shoot at his head as many times as I liked and then he bent the sparkling forehead towards me and he was expecting more shots.

  Again, without hesitation I loaded my gun and I shot at his forehead for the second time. But to my surprise, my gun only sounded—“Shaka—bul—laha” and the gun-shots did not do anything to his head at all. At last when I believed that my gun could not do anything to him then I put the gun down and I held one of the poisonous cudgels while my hunting bag was still on my shoulder, and then I told him that I was ready to fight with him. As I was doing that he had gathered some heavy stones and many cudgels into one place. After that he was coming to me direct and to beat me to death with the heavy cudgel which he held all the while.

  As he raised up this cudgel just to beat me to death with it, I hastily jumped to his right and then I beat him heavily on the head with my poisonous cudgel. After he struggled and he turned to his right and when he was about to beat me with his heavy cudgel, I ran to his back unexpectedly and I hastily beat him on the head so heavily that he felt so much pain that he hesitated for a few minutes as if he was going to fall down and die. When he did so I thought he was entirely powerless and then I was beating him with the cudgel so repeatedly that I did not know the time that he stretched his hands backward and then he gripped my waist.

  When he pressed my waist with both hands very hardly I nearly cut into two. I could not breathe in and out again and both my eyes were so opened widely with pain that I could not see again, and both were nearly to tear. And again, with anger he lifted the whole of me very high and then with all his power he flung me to where there was a big rock. His intention was that my head would hit that rock and then I would die at once. But it was a great surprise to him when he saw that my body did not even touch the rock before I stood upright and I was telling him loudly—“Cat never touch the ground with its back whenever it falls!” When he was hearing what I was saying repeatedly he became more angry and he ran to me and held my right leg unexpectedly. But as he was trying to tear it away from my body, it hooked his long beard and then I began to dangle here and there as he was trying to take it away from his beard as quickly as possible, because his lower jaw was then paining him very badly. When the pain was too much for him and my leg did not come out from his beard in time. He left it there but he was then running along to where he had made a big fire just to put me inside this fire so that I might be burnt to death at once, and after that to take my leg away from his beard as quickly as possible.

  But when I saw that he was going to put me in the fire, I hastily held the branch of a tree which was on the way to the place of the fire. I held the branch of this tree so tightly with all my power that he could not go front or back. When I pulled up my leg it pulled up his beard as well. And when the pain was too severe for him he did not know when he began to climb up this tree along to me. And as he was coming up it was so I too were climbing on and on to the topmost of this tree. When he came nearer to me then I started to beat his head and jaws until when he be came powerless to hold the branch of the tree with his hands. But when he began to dangle then I took my leg away from his beard and then he fell from the top of this tree to the ground and he lay down helplessly.

  When I came down I beat him again for a few minutes so that he might not be able to stand up until when I would leave there for the jungle. Of course he died after a few minutes.

  It was like that I won this powerful gate-keeper, of course it was not easy for me before I saw the end of him. Because he attempted very hardly to kill me as he had killed several hunters, etc., and he did not know that—“I have jumped this well and I have jumped that well, one day the cat would fall into the well.” But this day I killed him in return. After that I hung my gun and hunting bag on my shoulder, I took my cutlass and the poisonous cudgels and then I left there for another place. But it was the following morning before I passed through this gate to the Jungle of the Pigmies because I was so tired that I was unable to continue my journey the same day to this jungle.

  In the Jungle of the Pigmies

  Before we can see the animal like that of elephant will be in a very far jungle.

  Before we can see the animal like that of buffalo will be in a very far field.

  And before we can see the bird like that of peacock will be in the heaven.

  But before we can see a jungle like that of the Jungle of the Pigmies will be in the right place as this.

  It was the “Day of Confusion” Wednesday, that I entered this Jungle of the Pigmies, at about eleven o’clock in the morning. After I travelled in this jungle for a few minutes—the great fears, wonders, and uncountable of undescriptive strange things, which I was seeing here and there were stopped me by force. When I was unable to travel further because of these things then I thought within myself to climb a tree to the top so that I might see these things to my satisfaction. And at the same time I climbed a tall tree to the top. I sat on one of its branches and as it was a leafy tree therefore these leaves were covered me and I pee
ped out very seriously as when an offender peeped out from the small window of his cell. Then I was looking at these handiworks of God with great wonder.

  When it was about twelve o’clock in the afternoon, the sun came. The heat of the sun was so hot that it forced all the living creatures to remain quietly in the places that they were. All the wild animals were kept quiet as if they were harmless. The lions stopped roaring but kept quiet as if they were dumbs. The birds of the sky were perched on the branches of the mighty tall trees, except those of the minute birds as canaries, migratory birds, etc., etc., which were jumping from one branch to another. Although the doves were crying in five minutes interval as they were telling the other creatures the right time (clock). Doves were the clocks of hunters because they never forget to remind or tell the hunters the right time. But as the owls were not coming out in the daytime or if they did come out or fly in the daytime and if a hunter saw it, it was a bad sign indeed. It was so their hoot was a great help to the hunters. Because their hoot was driving animals to the hunters and it (hoot) was also amusing the hunters as they (hunters) had no partners in the jungle.

  And all these creatures were kept quiet where they were for the sun was too hot. Because the sun of this jungle was also very curious. Whenever it was out it would be as hot as fire and that was why these living creatures were hiding themselves from it whenever it was out.

  When I sat on the branch of this tree and I did not see any living creature to move or walk about by that time and as the jungle was as calm as if there were none living creatures, then I was enjoying the peaceful cool breeze which my creator was sending to me. After a while I was feeling to eat, I was hungry badly. But to my surprise, as I was just thinking in mind what I could eat, one big edible fruit fell on to my head from the topmost branch of this tree. I took it and I ate it at once.